Under normal circumstances I would have said a “passport to exhibitionism” would likely come in a margarita glass. But funnily enough this isn’t what Conference organisers had in mind when they came up with the ‘Exhibition Passport’ you’ll get as part of your registration pack. So what manner of document is this passport and does it require posing for a horribly unflattering photo? In short, no.

The idea is that you trot around checking out the wares of the various Exhibitors’ stands, collecting stamps for your “passport” as you go. If you manage to get to around half of the stands (ie you get forty stamps) then you’ll go in the draw to win a prize donated by Conference sponsor, New Zealand Micrographic Services Ltd.

Once you’ve got your forty stamps, post your passport (don’t forget to write your name on it!) into one of the entry boxes in the exhibition area by 1.30pm on Wednesday. The prize draw will take place at the closing ceremony at 3.30pm and you have to be there to collect your prize or you’ll miss out. The prize in question is a 1TB LaCie Hard Disk. That’s a terrabyte of memory folks! And don’t feel bad if you don’t know how big that is, I had to ask too (1TB = 1000GB).

The National Library of New Zealand stand has prizey goodness on offer as well with Aotearoa People’s Network Kaharoa t-shirts to be won (green is the new black). Expert advice will also be available in the form of staff from the People’s Network, Content Services, Digital Services, Te Puna and so on but not all at the same time so make sure to check the schedule for the best time to drop by. Mysterious prizes will be available for some lucky souls who attend presentations (and there’s talk of a quiz) so be sure to include the National Library stand on your ‘itinerary’.

I hear-tell Cardquip is dangling a digital camera shaped carrot to tempt delegates towards their stand and the chances are good that other exhibitors will have prizes and competitions on offer so keep your eyes and ears open when you’re out and about collecting your passport stamps!

He was one of 94 first-time LIANZA members who joined up between 1 June & 31 July 2009, and was therefore entered into the draw to win a full Early Bird Registration.

We thought you might be interested to know a bit more about our lucky winner of this competition, so I threw some curly questions his way last week and now you get to find out a little more about the mysterious Andrew Robinson, Libraries & Customer Services Manager, South Waikato District Council.

Andrew Robinson, South Waikato District Council

So, how long have you worked in the library sector?

“On and off for about 12 years, just started my second year as manager. I have been out of the library scene for a while but definitely enjoying being back.”

“Too busy for blogging but ramonesblog.com – great blog for the world’s greatest band. Of course if someone starts a blog about being a basketball playing superhero who flies a space shuttle – I’m in!”

Favourite NZ holiday destination?

“Anywhere there’s sun, surf and sand.”

Last movie you saw (and did you love it or hate it?)

“Harry Potter and the Half blood prince, it was decidedly average. As usual in Book vs Movie, Book wins!”

Last book you read (and who would you recommend it to?)

“The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb, pub. 2008. Awesome story, fans of Jodi Picoult will enjoy but it has a lot more substance.”

What was the last book you didn’t finish?

“Dune…twice. 3rd time lucky maybe” (mj interjects – my response for this is Lord of the Rings, I can’t finish even the first book)

Have you ever been to Christchurch? If yes, what do you remember most about it? If no, what do you know about Christchurch?

“No I haven’t been to Christchurch so really looking forward to it and to be honest my knowledge is sketchy. I know they have a river and some hills, a cathedral, a retired Wizard, and an average rugby team.”

What are you looking forward to at this year’s Conference?

“I always enjoy the keynote speakers and I’m looking forward to hearing Richard Stallman. What’s particularly beneficial to me is the exposure to what’s happening in libraries and the trends that are emerging, it should be a great conference!”

Thanks to Andrew for answering our questions. We’re hoping that he’ll take away more than a few sketchy ideas about a southern city with a retired wizard and a cathedral.

If you have any other questions that you’d like to throw Andrew’s way, post them here and we’ll see if we can’t get an answer out of him before conference.

You may be aware that Christchurch City Libraries has been celebrating 150 years of public library service in our fair city this year. There’s a whole raft of events happening this month including a competition for library customers of all ages to create a Youtube clip about the library. The Youtube competition winners were announced on Friday and as one of the judges I had the pleasure of awarding the prize for best Youth entry, Love in the library below.

Winner in the Kids category was Monster in the libraryand Choicestook out the gong in the Adults section. Congratulations to all the winners. There is clearly a lot of talent out there.

This child is not a LIANZA member but probably won't enter the competition. More chance for you to win then!

Librarians. We spend our working lives trying to make things as uncomplicated as possible but sometimes we’re rather gifted at making things confusing. It seems our explanation of what you had to do to be in the draw for free conference registration wasn’t quite as clear as we thought it was. To that end here’s a further explanation of who is eligible and what you have to do (hardly anything!).

The LIANZA 2009 Conference Committee is very excited to offer one FREE registration to a first time LIANZA member who joins and pays their LIANZA membership fees between 1st June and 31st July 2009. Each first time LIANZA member will be put in a prize draw, collated by LIANZA National Office. The winner will be contacted in first week of August 2009, and once prize has been accepted, the winner’s name will be announced on the Conference website and in other forums.

So we’re really looking for those new to the profession to get a chance to attend a conference so we can keep that fresh blood coming through (aging profession, blah dee blah).

Acknowledge the past
Embrace the presentAdvance the future…and all that jazz.

So feel free to shoulder-tap that library assistant/MLIS student or freshly hatched librarian who’s not a LIANZA member…yet. Maybe you could do a quick poll around your workplace to find out who is and who isn’t signed up?

I know, sounds too good to be true don’t it? You’re wondering what the catch is, aren’t ya? And of course there is one but don’t worry you won’t have to sign over your firstborn or anything.

Basically, we’d like to encourage newbies to this year’s LIANZA conference, we still want all you hardened veterans to come along too, but in the interests of strengthening the profession, of acknowledging the past, embracing the present, and particularly advancing the future we’d like some people who are new or newish to the profession to come along and get the LIANZA conference experience.

As a way of enticing such folk, LIANZA have put one early bird conference registration up for grabs to anyone who signs up as a new LIANZA member, so if you know of someone who’s not in the club and who you think would really benefit from being in the organisation (and who also might like to go to conference) then you might want to give them a nudge in the direction of the online membership form.